Witchbreaker (Dragon Apocalypse)

by James Maxey

  “No!” Sorrow shouted. “We can’t flee to the abstract realms! Rott already swims the Sea of Wine. Avaris might be even more powerful!”

  “We have to try!” Gale shouted, placing her hand upon the wine-colored wood. The whole of the ship gleamed in the moonlight. The glow encompassed Avaris as well.

  Avaris suddenly turned her head to the sky and shouted, “No! I cannot leave now! I defy your summons!”

  “Release the ropes!” Sage screamed. “She’s crossing over with us!”

  But it wasn’t the Circus that tugged the witch-dragon toward the abstract realms. Instead, the sea boiled as Abyss, the dragon of the sea, rose from the depths behind the black dragon.

  “No dragon may refuse the call,” he growled as he clamped his turtle-beak onto her wing.

  The material world grew ghostlike around Sorrow. She raised her hand and found she could see through her flesh to her bones.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CONVERGENCE

  “SOMETHING’S GONE WRONG!” Sage shouted. “We aren’t passing cleanly to the Sea of Wine! It’s like we’re caught in some vortex!”

  The sea churned as Abyss’s island-sized body changed suddenly to churning whitecaps. Rott’s body trembled, then collapsed, changing into a dragon sized mass of writhing maggots that fell toward the frothing waves.

  The night vanished, replaced by bright, dazzling sunlight. Sorrow clamped her eyes shut. She blinked and saw Slate tumbling through the sky toward the deck. Rigger was apparently blinded as well; no ropes moved to catch the knight. He slapped into the mainsail, his armor tearing the fabric as he slid down it, before dropping ten feet to the deck with a THUMP.

  Sorrow ran to see if he’d survived the fall, but was distracted as her vision cleared and she recognized her surroundings. “This is the convergence!” Sorrow shouted as she looked around at the tropical seas. “It’s where the primal dragons meet to talk to one another!”

  Sorrow craned her neck to see which dragons were present. Greatshadow’s smoke poured up from the sea, as did Kragg’s stony spine. A massive iceberg rose from the northern waves, as a tropical jungle screaming with the cries of a million animals rose to the south.

  The ship groaned as it shuddered to a sudden halt, run aground on an island of wriggling maggots that clotted beneath them. Beside the ship, a larger mass of maggots climbed skyward, hatching into black flies that took on the form of Rott.

  The central sea bulged upward as Abyss rose from the depths, lifting his head to stare in the direction of the Circus. “This is not your first time here, witch. You cannot claim ignorance of the rules. When you are summoned to the convergence, you answer.”

  Sorrow thought Abyss was speaking to her, but before she could think of a response, Avaris roared, “Don’t speak to me of rules, sea-dragon! I’m destruction and ruin! The death of all who displease me is now the only law!”

  Hush rose from the iceberg to the north and turned her face toward Avaris. “Destruction and ruin are the order of the day, witch! Tempest has been slain!” The ice-dragon’s eyes narrowed as she looked around at her kindred. “I warned you all of the dangers! I warned you that mankind was a threat to each of us! With Tempest slain, can you still be blind to the consequences of inaction?”

  “I witnessed his death,” said Abyss. “Tempest could have avoided his destruction simply by ignoring the humans. He brought his end upon himself by meddling too deeply in the affairs of men.”

  “Believe as you wish,” said Hush. “But your voice is only one among many. I bring you all here to ask again, shall we destroy mankind? I say yes!”

  “No!” Greatshadow roared as he rose in a whirlwind of smoke and sparks from his volcanic home. “Tempest brought his fate upon himself. We cannot punish mankind for his hubris!”

  “Agreed,” said Abyss.

  “I vote for death!” rumbled Kragg. His mountainous form shifted, sending rocks sliding from his limbs into the sea. “First Verdant, then Glorious, now Tempest? I would be done with this danger that I might slumber in peace.”

  “Abundant!” Hush demanded. “What say you?”

  “Men are still beasts,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “I cannot condone their extinction. Can we not be satisfied with destroying all they have built? Let us tear down their cities and burn their fields. Let us strip the clothes from their backs and force them naked into the forests, where they may root and forage to survive. These arrogant beasts have forgotten their animal nature. It would be satisfying to remind them.”

  “No!” shouted Hush. “Humiliation is not enough! Destruction is the only solution!”

  “Agreed,” said Kragg.

  “Then we are deadlocked,” said Greatshadow. “No opinion has the majority!”

  “I vote for destruction!” Avaris said, rising up on an island of maggots. “The men who dwell within the world are corrupt and pitiful creatures, worthy only of disdain! Let us wipe them from creation! In my home within the Black Bog, I’ve labored for centuries to perfect a new breed of men. These are superior to their predecessors in every way, and completely obedient to my will. Under my guidance, these new men shall never endanger another dragon!”

  “You get no vote!” Abundant growled. “Rott’s mind is still silent. You’re nothing but a human puppet master, making his jaws move. And you’ve brought other men! You sully these sacred seas with their presence!”

  Avaris turned her gaze upon toward the Circus. “These pests? They will bother us no longer.”

  Avaris inhaled deeply, her torso swelling. With a buzzing roar, a wave of flies churned from her jaws and shot toward the ship.

  Sorrow’s eyes turned toward the golden disk above. “Stagger!” she yelled. “Now would be a good time to help!”

  “I was just thinking that myself,” a voice said from the heavens. Fingers of golden light beamed down, shaping into a hand that closed around the flies. When the hand opened, the cloud of pestilence had vanished.

  Sorrow shielded her eyes as Stagger knelt upon the island of light above the convergence, smiling as he leaned over the edge to look down. Avaris turned away from his outstretched arm, shrieking. Stagger caught the dragon by the tail. In scale, he was like a man catching a cat.

  “No!” Avaris sobbed as she clawed the maggots beneath her. “No! Let go! Let me go!”

  “You’re the one holding onto something that isn’t yours,” Stagger said.

  Rott fell silent, his body collapsing limp upon the worm island as black smoke bubbled from his nostrils. The smoke shrieked as it coalesced into the shape of a woman before flying off over the waves.

  “She gone!” Sorrow cried. “Utmost told me Avaris couldn’t stand the light of glorystones. Stagger’s whole body is a glorystone!”

  “Her vote still counts!” Hush cried.

  “No,” Kragg grumbled. “It would be base hypocrisy to pretend that the witch spoke for Rott. We continue to be deadlocked.”

  Stagger sat on the edge of the sun island, dangling his feet as he looked down. “Permit me to undeadlock you. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Stagger, and I’m the new sun. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “You’re just another interloper,” Kragg said.

  “And you violate the sanctity of this place by attacking a dragon!” Hush screamed.

  “Rott’s none the worse for wear,” said Stagger. “I just helped rid him of a parasite.”

  “Using power that you’ve stolen,” said Abundant. “The stink of humans is on everything these days.”

  Stagger stepped down from the sun to stand amid the dragons, a glowing giant with skin too bright for Sorrow to look at directly.

  Stagger crossed his arms and said, “I know that none of you are happy I’m here, but I suggest you get used to it. I’ve been practicing this avatar trick. I know how to get into your little clubhouse any time I want.”

  “You shouldn’t speak to us so boldly, human,” said Kragg. “It’s not so long ago you were a li
ving man. There are still things in this world that are precious to you. Things that dwell in our domains.”

  Stagger nodded. “Agreed. I don’t deny you have the power to hurt me. I even acknowledge that, collectively or alone, you have the power to wipe mankind from the planet. I know I couldn’t stop you. But I also know, if you decide to do so, I could make things very uncomfortable for all of you.”

  “Was that a veiled threat?” asked Hush.

  “Allow me to unveil it. This convergence seems like a pretty nice place, the green waters warm and sparkling in the sunshine. And guess who owns that sunshine? I have the power to turn my back on you all. I can simply leave the sky and make the world a very dark, unpleasant place in the aftermath. The seas will freeze. The trees and animals will wither and die. You’ll win a world free of men. You’ll simply lose daylight, forever.”

  “Eternal winter is what Hush desires!” Abyss bellowed.

  “So she’s happy. What about the rest of you?”

  “I’m not happy being threatened, human,” said Kragg.

  “Nor am I,” said Abundant. “I recognize you have the power to carry out your threat, but you cannot protect humanity forever. You’ve seen by now that no dragon is immortal. Why do you believe you will outlive us?”

  “I’ll worry about how this ends another time,” said Stagger. “For now, the only thing I ask in exchange for sunrises and sunsets is that men be left to live however they wish.”

  “Very well. I vote with Greatshadow and Abyss,” said Abundant. “Mankind shall be spared. For now.”

  “We’re concluded here,” said Abyss. He swam toward the island of maggots that the Circus was beached upon, sending a bulging wall of water onto the shore to lift the ship. The waves crashed upon the hull, forming an inhuman voice that gurgled, “Leave and do not return!”

  “Hold tight!” Gale shouted as the Circus rocked upon the tide, the hull bumping along Rott’s submerged and lifeless body. “Let’s get to the Sea of Wine before we lose our bottom!”

  “We’ve only made the journey by moonlight,” Rigger said. “What’s going to happen if we try to make the jump in sunlight? Do we even know that we can get there from here?”

  “Do we have a choice?” asked Mako. “Do it!”

  Gale knelt and placed her hands on the boards.

  Instantly, daylight changed to darkness. Sorrow couldn’t even see her hand before her face. Everything was quiet until Brand flicked open his glorystone pendant.

  “Where are we?” he asked.

  “Nowhere,” said Sage, staring into her spyglass. “We... we’ve crossed into a place beyond all dreams or myths.” Her face turned pale. “This is limbo.”

  Sorrow looked over the rail. The ship wasn’t floating in water. It hung in mid-air, supported by nothing. Nor was it falling; there was no hint of any breeze or motion.

  “I’ve got an idea,” said Bigsby. “Let’s go somewhere.”

  Gale still knelt on the deck, her shoulders trembling as she pressed her hands against the boards. “I’m trying to push the ship across the abstract barriers, but this place... it has no edges! It has no barriers to cross.”

  “We got in,” said Mako. “There must be a way out.”

  “Those poor pygmies in the hold,” said Cinnamon. “They’ve kept so quiet through all of this. They must be terrified.”

  “You’re not?” asked Bigsby.

  The girl shrugged. “We’re all still together. Romers can figure out anything.”

  “But can we figure out nothing?” asked Jetsam, scratching his head as he studied the surrounding void.

  Sorrow suddenly remembered Slate. She ran back to the main mast and found him sprawled there, face down, completely limp. She knelt and turned him onto his back.

  “Is he alright?” asked Rigger. “I didn’t even know he’d made it back onboard.”

  “Avaris dropped him as we passed between realms,” said Sorrow. “I can’t tell if he’s breathing!”

  She pulled off Slate’s helmet. He had a knot on his forehead the size of an egg. Blood was caked around his nose. She held her fingers over his lips and felt no air.

  She pressed her cheek to his chest, but couldn’t hear a heartbeat through the thick glass. She tried to will the glass to dust, but it didn’t respond. She was truly powerless.

  Except...

  She’d always had the power of bone-weaving. She didn’t know exactly how to access these powers. But perhaps there was a reason why, in storybooks, curses were always lifted with a kiss.

  And so she kissed him, placing her lips tentatively against his at first, then more firmly. Long seconds passed as she felt heat grow where their faces touched.

  And yet... with their lips pressed together, there was no mistaking the fact that he wasn’t breathing. She placed both hands upon his cheeks and opened his mouth, breathing into him as her tears flowed.

  The air she filled him with left his lungs as a soft groan. She pulled her face away, uncertain if she’d heard the sound at all. At last he inhaled on his own. His eyes fluttered open as he lifted his fingers to touch where Sorrow’s tears trickled down his cheek.

  His eyes focused on her face, still only inches from his. To her great shock, he placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his once more. Her eyes grew wide.

  He opened his eyes as well and she pulled away. “Forgive me,” he said. “I’m just overjoyed to see that you’re human once more!”

  “No apology necessary. I’m happy to see you too. But... we perhaps should celebrate our mutual joy someplace a bit more private?”

  She looked around to find all the Romers gathered round them, illuminated by the light from Brand’s locket. Brand and Gale were holding hands; was it just to comfort each other, or had Brand finally won Gale over?

  “Don’t stop on account of us,” said Jetsam.

  Gale slapped him on the back of the head.

  Mako turned and walked off into the shadows.

  Slate rose to his elbows and looked around. “It’s quiet. I take it we defeated Avaris?”

  Sorrow nodded. “We sent her running home with her tail between her legs.”

  “I’m not sure we did much of anything,” said Rigger. “Stagger did all the work. I guess it pays to have friends in high places.”

  “But Stagger’s in a high place because I put him there,” said Sorrow. “We wouldn’t have won if not for steps I’ve taken in the past.”

  “You can’t pretend that Stagger’s intervention was part of some master plan you had,” said Rigger.

  Sorrow shrugged. “I planted the seed that brought us victory. I don’t see why I can’t take credit for the harvest.”

  “Good to see your ego hasn’t taken a hit just because you’re powerless,” said Brand, staring at Sorrow’s scalp.

  “I’m hardly powerless,” said Sorrow. She ran her fingers along Slate’s stubbled cheeks and said, with a gentle smile, “I’ve everything I need to take up bone-weaving.”

  Brand’s eyebrows shot up.

  “And what’s more,” she said, standing and helping Slate to his feet. “I’m human again. I’ve a sound body and a keen mind, and that makes me one of the most powerful forces of nature imaginable. I’m ready to take whatever life throws at me.” She held a clenched fist before her face to illustrate her words. She lowered her hand as her eyes drank in the unending blackness that engulfed them. “Not that this does me any good in limbo.”

  “Limbo?” asked Slate, looking around at the surrounding dark.

  “We didn’t make the leap between realms cleanly,” said Sage. “We’ve wound up literally nowhere.”

  Slate shook his head, looking forlorn. His shoulders sagged. “In seeking to protect the One True Book, I’ve placed it in even greater danger.”

  “We’ll think of something,” said Poppy. “We’re Romers! We get out of tight spots for a living.”

  “But we’re not in a tight spot,” said Sage. “We’re in no spot at
all. I didn’t see things ending like this.” She sighed. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m the one who made the jump,” said Gale. “Long ago, mother warned me she could only find her way across to the spirit realms at night. Sunlight blinds her to the path. I pushed her anyway.”

  Sorrow snapped her fingers. “Sunlight!”

  She marched toward Brand and grabbed the locket at his throat. She thrust her lips inches from the glorystone and shouted, “Stagger! We’re in limbo! Help!”

  Brand looked at her as if she’d gone insane.

  “The glorystone is part of the sun,” she explained. “Just as Greatshadow can see through every candle, Stagger, in theory, can see through every glorystone. But, there are thousands of little fragments like this. I just want to be sure we catch his attention.”

  “There’s only one sure way to catch Stagger’s attention,” said Bigsby. He tugged on Brand’s shirt. “Bend over.”

  Brand did so, and the dwarf cupped the locket in both hands and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Battle Ox has just tapped a fresh keg and I’m buying ’til it’s dry!”

  Bigsby looked around. Everyone was quiet. The dwarf sighed. “I thought for sure that would work. Anytime similar words were spoken at the Black Swan, he’d fly through the doors so fast he’d knock tables over.”

  Everyone jumped as wood banged against wood all around the deck. The ropes overhead began to rattle in the pulleys.

  “Rigger?” Gale asked.

  “It’s not me!” he called out, spinning around to see who had hold of the ropes.

  Sorrow’s jaw dropped as she saw horned demons flying in from the edges of limbo to light upon the deck of the Circus, where they grabbed at the rigging. They were monstrous creatures, with skeletal human bodies and animal heads. They were dressed, curiously enough, in sailor uniforms identical to the ones worn by the Romers.

  “You might need this,” Rigger said as he thrust the Witchbreaker into Slate’s hands.